Desperate last stand

It wasn't supposed to end like this... not again. The flame of hope once fresh in her heart, after her goddess spoke to her, was now a mute ember on its last seconds of life. These thoughts and more rushed through her tired mind as she conjured a magic spear and sent it flying through an enemy berserkers chest. Her eyes quickly surveyed the desperate battlefield that engulfed the last remnants of her tattered army, the last line between her people and the enemy. "No... please Goddess no..." she quietly begged as a wave of commotion stirred at the rear of the enemy's troops. Her knuckles bleached to white as her magically enhanced vision spotted the source of the disturbance... A new wave of fresh enemy troops, larger than the current one. Their roars of promised pain and destruction invigorated the previous wave and they all pressed forward to finish the fight. With a frustrated roar of her own, her depleting reserves of magic bolstered her wavering troops and charged with them into the incoming horde.

Every enemy she felled was replaced by two more, almost eagerly as if to see which would reap the glory of her death. Her knee shook as she riposted a heavy blow and redirected the tip of her spear into the gap between the enemy's chest plate and helmet. As her enemy fell grasping their gurgling neck, she noticed her cousin fighting nearby. His mace forced his enemy's arm wide, leaving it open for the following crushing blow to its chest, caving it in with a sickening crunch. Heaving with great breaths he noticed her gaze and tiredly nodded before engaging another enemy.

'Goddess be thanked that he was still with me' She thought. 'He didn't make it far the first time, he and other precious people were able to stand with me now, even at the end... '

She quickly headed off that trail of thoughts. 'I can't give up now, I can't! I WON'T!' Her magic responded to her emotions as she instinctively sent a volley of focused magic in-front of her, clearing up the enemies within a short distance and giving her time to rest and take charge of her beleaguered troops. As she commanded her meager reserves to support the battle lines, her mind was racing with questions: Where did it all go wrong? Did she not strive every second of every day to prevent this calamity? Her eyes widened as she noticed the enemy launch a massive magical strike, in response to hers, towards her left flank. The protections and shields thrown up from her side did little to impede its path as it detonated in the midst of the melee, destroying combatants on both sides. Despite its massive explosion and noise, it did little to slow the flow of carnage except create a momentary shield of dust.

She grit her teeth as she subconsciously calculated how many were lost, and sent the remaining of her resting troops to quickly fill the gap before the enemy could flood it.

Oh how she hated them, they wouldn't care for the loss of life from their own troops if they could take just as many of her own when throwing those destructive magics.

With commands given, she returned to the fray. She nimbly evaded an enemy's blood covered battleaxe as it narrowly swung over her head. Not missing the opening, she thrusted her spear into its exposed armpit and fatally pierced its heart. Quickly removing her weapon, she engaged her next opponent.

Time seemed to lose meaning as her troops continued to fight for everything they held dear, however time unfortunately was against them. Its ticking hand became audible in her mind as her army was being driven back step by step to the destroyed defenses that once protected her city. Once formidable walls with heavily fortified turrets were now reduced to scorched broken stones and beyond them were the homes of the refugees too young or old to bear arms.

When the strength of her arms failed, she relied on her emotions to sustain them, and when her rage was spent, she swapped to her magic sending out battle magics to protect and destroy along the battlefield. This process allowed her to last this longer than anyone else, and sadly long enough to see her final line start to crumble as they were pushed back beyond the remnants of the wall. The decent size of her six thousand before the start of this battle was now reduced to a scant thousand. Their remains scattered between their farthest push and their now desperate last line of defense at the precipice of their last home.

Every stab, swing, and block, seemed to speed up her thoughts as her world slowed. She knew she had done everything she could have done to save her people, her world, but ... was it really that one thing? It was one thing she could not do no matter how she looked, no matter who she asked even her own goddess was silent to her pleas. She couldn't find...

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted at this moment, as flash of lightning struck down from the heavens into the center of the enemy horde causing an ear piercing explosion. The shock wave knocked down enemy and ally alike until everyone was in the blood soaked dirt. Her ears were ringing and yet she knew she couldn't stay down, she had to get up before the enemy did. Gritting her teeth she rolled onto her side and used her spear to push herself back up on her feet. With her ears still ringing, she surveyed the area to see everyone in similar states of rising, yet the enemy was more fresh and more quick to recover from whatever that magic was unleashed. The seconds of difference between the enemy rising and her own was long enough to promise the start of an impending slaughter of her recovering troops.

However before they could strike, wolves the size of horses crackled into existence in front of the defenders and lunged at the enemy. With surprise and brutal ferocity, the two forces were quickly separated by an ever growing horde of wolves on whose fur danced strands of vibrant lightning.

"Thank Galea..." Her prayers had been answered, her Goddess was not silent to their desperate struggle to survive. Thankfully the wolves did not turn on her own troops; however when one of her soldiers would approach to help the fighting, the wolves would aggressively raised their hackles until that person backed away. The wolves brutal onslaught rapidly created a gap between her troops and the enemy that stretched now beyond the broken rocks of her wall. It puzzled her tired mind.

'Why were they pushing them back and not letting our side get close? Why were they trying to give us distance?'

As she viewed the ongoing fighting, her magical senses began to notice a massive buildup of raw power from the exact spot the lightning struck. It grew in strength until even the enemy took notice, and their alarmed looks and shouts rapidly sent their force in full retreat. Then a rough voice sounded throughout the battlefield "Begone!", and the pent up energy was released in a wave of blinding light. It was a magic she had never seen before, as from the epicenter to the edge of the battlefield; every fleeing enemy soldier was vaporized and their bodies dispersed into the wind as the wave of light passed through them. The feel of the energy was terrifying, it reminded her of when she first died; when that primal energy ripped her soul from her body. As the light continued to expand outwards, she frantically thought it would do the same to her own troops, but the wave of light broke upon the now still wolves and dispersed into motes of light.

As the last vapors of the enemy dispersed, an eerie silence descended onto the battlefield, it seemed neither heaven nor earth wanted to break it until one did. The wolves, who seemed unaffected by the crashing field of energy, dashed off into the trees seemingly on a predetermined errand. However one wolf remained behind and trotted towards the epicenter of magic whereupon a blurred figure began to emerge. The wolf circled around the figure and then began to walk at its side ... towards her.

With cautious steps, she moved in front of her troops to parlay with the individual who ended the bloodshed and saved her troops. As the figure came closer its details became clearer, it looked like a human who was armored in dark grey leather; however its face was hidden under a dark cowl. The last thing she noticed before the figure reached conversation distance was it sheathing a sword whose silvery edge seemingly blinked at her before it disappeared under its cloak.

"We thank..." She started to speak but the individual interrupted her with a voice devoid of emotion. "Galea has sent me, care for your soldiers, and speak to me once that is promptly done." Then without further words the figure turned on its heel and headed back towards the ruined walls.

She blinked "...What? Uh..."

As she gathered a response, it was quickly disturbed as a voice sounded from another source. "Good to see he's improving on his conversation skills." Her eyes locked onto the wolf who was shaking its head as if it were a person.

It then looked at her and while smiling said "Hi, I'm Fenrir."

"... What in Galea's name is going on?" This would take a while to process.